


The Power of the Dyad

by Serahtonin



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Ahch-To, Alternate Universe - Slavery, Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Ben Solo Lives, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Episode: s04e13 A World Between Worlds, Fix-It, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Dyad (Star Wars), Fusion of Star Wars Legends and Disney Canon, POV Alternating, POV Third Person, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Reylo - Freeform, Slow Burn, Slow Burn Rey/Kylo Ren, Space Opera, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers, The Force
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:00:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24300976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serahtonin/pseuds/Serahtonin
Summary: A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…From the victory on Exegol THE GALACTIC ALLIANCE was established and has restored democratic rule to a united galaxy. However the Senate’s motion to extend the reach of anti slavery laws threatens a split. Major crime syndicates have joined forces to target planet systems in the Outer Rim territories for support to revive a sympathetic Sith Order to power once again.REY SKYWALKER searches tirelessly for an answer to prevent a dark uprising in the force and return of the Sith for good. With the help of FINN with 'The Knights of Skywalker' and POE leading 'The Alliance Defence Forces' they have raced to rescue young force sensitive children and form a new Jedi order of Padawans. Thus keeping them from the clutches of the crime syndicates raids on planets and villages hunting for them.But with muted power of only one half of a Force Dyad Rey knows they cannot do it alone, sensing a call and familiar presence in the force…
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 16
Kudos: 24
Collections: Post-TROS-fix-it, TROS Reylo Fix-it Fics





	1. Gabredor III

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic and I am respecting the creative choices of TROS as Canon. I actually wasn't much of a reylo fan until this movie, Ben's death hit me in the feels and can't stop thinking about it though. It feels like there is intentionally a lot of story left and is not really the end at all. The Star Wars movies are my first love, I plan to draw from some legends, arcs from Clone Wars and Rebels but may also slightly change them to make them my own- don't hate me. Writing is hard for me but I am excited by the story ideas I have so I decided to give it a go! If the Skywalker saga were to continue and have more of an ending this is what would happen in my mind.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slaves recently captured on a planet are being processed to be transported and sold by a slaver crime syndicate. Poe Dameron leads Alliance Defence Forces with Finn and the Knights of Skywalker on a raid of the illegal operation and attempt to capture the slave master.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to begin with a traditional action packed Star Wars opening to set the scene of the story. The story with Rey and Ben will begin next chapter so stayed tuned. Research for this was a doozy so please forgive any inconsistencies. I have the story outlined with around 20 chapters maybe more, see how I go! 3600 words for you in this chapter.

A cargo ship travels through the obsidian of space in the Myto sector of the Outer Rim approaching the planet Gabredor III. As it gradually descends through the smoggy atmosphere to make planetfall, the wilderness of the surface comes into view where remains of small villages still smoulder from their destruction.  
It is not long before the ship’s destination appears through the haze on the horizon where a Karazak Slavers Cooperation transfer centre and labour camp, emblazoned with the ‘KSC’ logos, has been established.

The terrain of the planet Gabredor III is an unruly jungle of plant life with a moist, humid atmosphere. The heat and thick air oppressive, never feeling as if enough fills the lungs like a persistent yet mild state of suffocation. Much like the fate of the poor beings captured by the Karazak slavers who are brought to the transfer center to be enslaved and transferred to be sold.

Below the twin moons just visible in Gabredors’s sky, two-dozen Karazak slavers and a number of armed droids operate the transfer centre. Four watchtowers with blaster cannons over see the activities within the entire base and the perimeter within a natural gorge. Orbital patrols of Z-95 Headhunter starfighters and deflector shields maintain control over all movement in and out. The base is under the authority of the dreaded Karazak slave master ‘Greezim Trentacal’ who travels via his own personal ship ‘Atron’s Mistress’.

As the cargo ship approaches the transfer centre the Karazak pilot communicates from the cockpit to inform command of the ships impending arrival. Unbeknown to the Karazak slavers however their pilot is under duress, held at blaster point by Poe Dameron and an Alliance Defence Force strike team smuggled in the empty ship behind him. The pilot glances back nervously towards Poe who only jerks the tip of the blaster forwards wordlessly, prompting him to proceed.

The cargo ship’s hatches open, flaps and drag fins extend and landing booster engines fire allowing the ship to touch down on the landing pad within view of the command bunker. The message of its arrival is relayed to Greezim Trentacal. 

‘Process the slaves for transport to the Invisible Market of the Core’ Trentacal orders before he adds

‘Ensure all children be screened first’.

* * *

The slave clearinghouse is merely a shelter for the imprisoned slaves with little else. The only sounds of water dripping and rhythmic breathing of those that have managed to sleep is disturbed abruptly by a slaver announcer’s voice on the PA to assemble for labour duties, cracks of shock whips and a few yells of pain. Groups of slaves clamour to assemble, their chains from their collars to the shackles at their wrists jangling as they move. Another Karazak slaver approaches one group and orders instead for them to proceed to the processing station.

As the majority of Karazak slavers are working the rest of the slaves at the base, another few slavers oversee and begin processing the group of slaves to be transported and sold. One slaver removes the collar, chains and shackles of a slave man prisoner who is then smacked across the back by another, falling onto his knees and his head is held down into the ground. The same slaver removing the chains then uses an implant device to forcefully administer the enslavement chip into the back of the cranium. This is designed to keep a being enslaved for life with a trigger sold to their buyer as a means of complete control. Temptation to escape removed by not wanting to be blown to bits as a result.

As this is performed a third slaver moving around surveying the group is yanking the arms of children as a droid takes blood samples performing diagnostics and analysis. The children are fearful and gasp in pain as a sharp pierces them and draws blood uncaringly to be analysed by the droid. 

After screening the blood of the first couple of children with the usual negative results the slaver and droid come to a young boy who is looking away distracted by the insertion of the slave chips. As the slaver reaches to grab the boy from behind however the boy suddenly dodges his reach, almost impossibly. This catches the slaver off guard, his reach missing and causing him to stumble slightly. 

The boy turns with shocked and fearful expression, instantly regretting his defiance on reflex. He sees the slaver first blink stupidly in surprise then snarling in anger before smacking him across the face strongly. With the boy subdued the slaver grabs his arm roughly for the droid to then take the sample. After a moment of performing analysis the droid issues an unfamiliar buzzing noise and illumination of lights indicating a positive result. 

The slaver makes a call in an alien language and gesture to summon a pair of armed droids.

‘Take these results and the child to the Slave Master Trentacal at the command bunker.’ 

Meanwhile as the boy is taken away Poe and another Alliance strike team member finish secretly planting an explosive device on a generator and depart carefully back towards the cargo ship.

* * *

The armed droids march the young boy through to the bunker and to a stop before Trentacal. The small boy gazes at the bulky human slave master. He is an imposing man with little neck, receding dark hair tied back low behind this head with the remaining long hair trailing down his broad back. There is a large dark Defel alien bodyguard standing behind Trentacal to his right. It’s shadow-like form just visible under some of the dispersed ultraviolet lighting of the bunker, wearing a visor and carrying a shockstaff.

The positive test result is relayed and Trentacal expression indicates he is pleased with the discovery. His thick almost joined dark eyebrows rising slightly and the corners of his mouth twitching his half drooping moustache away from his clipped beard.

‘Congratulations my boy, what is your name?’ sings Trentacal deeply.

‘Temiri…master’ he reply’s tentatively.

‘Temiri. Well Temiri from today you will no longer be in chains, you see I have chosen you because I feel you are special, and much too important to be a slave’

‘In fact I feel there is a great need for children like yourself in the Citadel and for the galaxy, far away from this place.’ 

There is a pause and Temiri doesn’t know what to make of this or whether it is safe to say anything unless Trentacal has asked him a direct question. So remains silent.

‘There are powerful friends and other special and important children like you there’ Trentacal continues.

‘Few are ever lucky enough in this galaxy. You would like to go there I think?’ Trentacal says with a questioning inflection but authoritative tone, indicating it is not really a question at all as there is only one acceptable answer.

However before Temiri can reply an explosion, indistinct shouting and blaster fire breaks from outside the bunker as the bomb strategically planted by the Alliance strike team is detonated. The strike team then immediately disembarks from the cargo ship to attack in a coordinated ambush on the ground of the KSC base. 

Trentacal’s attention snaps from Temiri and expression changes in an instant towards the control room.

‘What’s the situation general Rei’Kei?’ Trentacal asks 

‘It appears that an Alliance Defence strike team have breached the base master, they’ve blown our shields’. 

‘Prepare for air attack!’ shouts Trentacal.

* * *

However Alliance Defence force fighters are already descending through the haze in the sky directly above the base. As the Alliance fighters sweep they fire off a barrage of blaster slugs into the few unmanned Headhunter starfighters sitting idle in the base completely destroying them. 

Their attention then turning towards the few, piloted Headhunter fighters that were patrolling the base at a distance now heading their way. The slaver pilots are no matches for them however as the Alliance fighters out manoeuvre and also quickly eliminated them one by one. One of the falling Headhunter fighter crashes and explodes spectacularly into one of the watchtowers, taking its blaster canon down with it.

As the slavers on the ground are distracted by the carnage Poe and the strike team move into position to help to neutralise the nearest remaining watchtower and its blaster canon firing off into the distance after the Alliance fighters. Poe takes aim and shoots a slaver straight off the canon.

Judging that there is enough time before the Alliance’s fighters are able to make another sweep over the base Poe jumps onto the ladder climbing up the tower. He takes a seat at the empty blaster canon, takes aim waving at the couple of slavers at the nearest watchtower before firing it off making a direct hit.

Poe exhales taking a few seconds to appreciate his victory looking at the destroyed tower. He suddenly realises however the shot has exposed himself to the slavers at the last remaining watchtower and aiming their blaster canon straight at him in return. Scrambling he manages to jump free from the tower just seconds before it is hit and explodes in turn. 

Slightly winded after his heavy impact to the ground to escape, he eases himself over to see the Alliance fighters return in a sweep of the base. The slavers in the last remaining watch tower are too slow to redirect the blaster canon, easily taking it out in another barrage of blasts. Poe throws his fist in the air and cheers the fighters, relieved at the zero casualties then reaches for his comm.

‘Its clear, I repeat the base is clear of heavy fire!’  
‘BB8 you’re up buddy!’

The little astromech droid BB8 receiving Poe’s message gives a ‘Bweeeeeep!’ before he speed rolls from the cargo ship to the command bunker entrance to begin overriding security. 

A moment later an Alliance landing ship touches down into the base. As the transport door lowers to the ground Finn descends wearing robes and igniting his lightsaber. He is followed by Jannah and four other company 77 ex troopers however they are far from the First Order defectors living in exile when they first met on Kef Bir years ago. They wear similar robes as Finn marking them as Knights of Skywalker serving the Galactic Alliance.

* * *

Trentacal viewing the destruction of the base and arrival of Finn and the other knights turns to his command team. 

‘Prepare my ship!’ he barks.

‘Come with me if you don’t want to end up dead or a slave the rest of your life boy.’ Trentacal adds hastily to Temiri and forcefully shoving him by the scruff of his neck.

‘Looks like you may get your chance after all Vex’. Trentacal says turning to his Defel bodyguard who gives a small wordless nod and follows.

* * *

As Finn views the commotion around the base his senses are hit with disoriented sounds of gasping slavers blown from explosions. Prisoner slaves running and cowering in fear from the attack, the smell and sounds of fires burning. 

He takes a deep breath, reaching out with the force to quiet his mind. Allaying past and present fears from bubbling to the surface, letting the calm fill his mind with focus. He has managed to hone this skill in his training and meditations with Rey. 

Finn now knows his latent sensitivity to the larger force of the galaxy is what provided him the perspective and consciousness of mind to resist his storm trooper conditioning. But without knowledge of how to channel it stirred a lot of fear in being acutely aware of the truth of situations he was being subjected to and feeling powerless to stop.

It wasn’t long before he made the connection of force sensitivity in Jannah and some of the other company 77 ex troopers as well who described a similar instinct, a feeling. Just as his and Rey’s paths were drawn together on Jakku, the force seemed to have drawn five force sensitive storm troopers paths together to successfully influence the whole of their company against their conditioning.

’Nice of you to join us’ Poe jokes tensely as he approaches still maintaining visual on the operations unfolding over the base. 

‘We were waiting on you, making an entrance creates impact’ Finn counters.

‘I still don’t understand why I couldn’t be the one to lead the air attack’ Poe says stubbornly, still a pilot at heart.

‘You are a general of the Alliance Defence Forces Poe. Or have you forgotten, you lead this whole team of people here on the ground’. Finn scolds lightly.

‘Yeah, I remember funnily enough Poe sighs brushing Finn’s point off.

Finn suddenly deflects a blaster slug with his lightsaber at a squad of armed droids and slavers retreating towards the slavers quarters. Where the rest of the Alliance strike team are surrounding and advancing.

‘Speaking of I should probably get back to them’ Poe says recovering and getting back to business

‘Good idea, you reckon you and your team can handle things here and getting those prisoners to safety? We’ll see if we can find Trentacal inside that command bunker.’

‘Yeah I think we got it covered, BB8 should have that bunker cracked any second for you guys. As soon as we get things under control here I’ll come join you. We may be able to get this done without Rey after all’.

‘And Finn, be careful.. or use the force. You know, that thing you do and say now’ Poe says with a half smile as he starts to leave distractedly.

Finn slightly incredulous raises his eyebrows

‘May the force be with you?’

‘Yeah that’s what I said’ Poe shouts over his shoulder

* * *

Finn motions for Jannah and the other Knights to follow him towards to bunker. 

As they approach BB8 gives a few rapid triumphant beeps indicating he has successfully overridden the command bunker’s security locks on the entrance. 

‘Love your work BB8’ Finn praises.

BB8 ejects from the control panel, spinning his mechanical arm before retracting it back in proudly as if holstering his trusty weapon.

Finn then turns to Jannah and the others.

‘We need to try and arrest someone from the command team so we can recover as much intel on slaver operations and any force sensitive children as we can. Use the force. If Trentacal is here he will be dangerous and well guarded’.

‘We’re with you’ Jannah says drawing her energy bow as the bunker doors draw open and they storm inside.

Finn flourishes his lightsaber to draw attention away from the other Knights as armed droids and Karazak slavers open fire. The blazing blue and humming of the plasma cutting through the air as it provides some cover deflecting blaster slugs and the other Knights release their power bows. 

The projectiles explode on a number of armed droids wiping them out as the slavers taking cover behind the command controls. The Knights advance inside taking cover before splitting up, Knights Forten and Jayell move together in one direction as Dhani and Juan move together in the other.

Jannah takes out her engineered blaster before joining Finn.

‘Trentacal’s not here’ she reports.

Nodding Finn looks round from his position to discover an escape route leading underground. His instincts telling him to follow it.

‘Keep going here, I’m going after Trentacal, cover me’

Taking Finn's direction Jannah fires a few rounds in the direction of the slavers as he makes a dash for it. Deflecting blaster fire with his lightsaber and cutting down a couple of remaining armed droids in his path before reaching the cover of the passageway. Blaster return fire from the slavers sounds out seconds later in the command bunker behind him.

Fighting the urge to turn back to help the other Knights Finn pushes on at a run through the dark underground passageway until eventually coming to a halt before a large hanger. The hanger houses a number of shipping containers near the entrance and Trentacal’s unmistakable ship ‘Atron’s Mistress’ further inside with its transport door lowered. He sees Trentacal and two other figures are before the ship.

‘Trentacal!’ Finn calls out, his voice carrying through the hanger.

Trentacal turns to see Finn standing in the entrance of the hanger, his eyes lingering on Finn’s lightsaber before replying.

‘Ah so you must be a Knight of Skywalker that I’ve heard so much about. You really should have let me know you were coming to visit. Aren’t we all part of the same galaxy now after all?’ sneers Trentacal.

‘Yes we are, just like we’re all part of the extension of anti slavery laws to these territories Trentacal’ Finns replies firmly, his eyes widening slightly as he notices small Temiri.

‘In the name of the Federal Galactic Alliance and the senate, Greezim Trentacal you are under arrest on slavery charges. Surrender now, hand over the child and you will receive a fair trial’.

‘This is the galaxy my friend, I merely provide for it’s demand.’ scoffs Trentacal.

‘It is the secret desire of all intelligent beings to have dominion over other sentient beings. Some like you pander to this desire by building empires, sitting in judgement of their fellow kind but denying it. Governments rise and fall, they make all kinds of declarations. I however accept that slaves always have and always will remain a necessity, as they have for thousands of years.’ he continues.

‘And as it happens I have other urgent business to attend to with young Temiri here’ says Trentacal putting his other hand on Temiri’s shoulder.  
‘So I am afraid I don’t have time to discuss these charges you speak of nor do I uh…intend on coming quietly’.

‘Vex! Kill him’ says Trentacal as he departs towards him ship with Temiri.

On command the shadow like Defel guard Vex immediately advances to attack becoming barely visible in the darkness. Further maintaining his stealth by only igniting his shock staff a split second before swinging an attack at Finn. 

He just manages to block Vex’s shock staff just in time with his lightsaber, continuing to block a number of consecutive and rapid blows. Vex’s every strike driving Finn backwards out of the hanger and back into the passageway. The plasma blade of his lightsaber crashes against the resistant phrik alloy with the shock taser end suddenly coming dangerously close to his face.

With a surge of effort Finn throws Vex and his shockstaff off then hastily moves further back in the passageway to put some distance between them, adrenaline already beginning to pulse. However after a moment Vex begins storming after him, his dark shadow fur changing to become periodically visible and bright fluorescent blue as he travels under single ultra violet lights, gaining speed.

Steadying himself Finn dodges the swing of Vex’s shock staff as he arrives using the force to extend and support his balance. To rectify his mistake Finn uses the opportunity to return towards the hanger as Vex recovers from the excess momentum. Moving into the cover between the shipping containers near the entrance to prevent Vex from charging again. Snarling with anger however Vex shoves his shock staff into a control panel cutting the power to the minimal ultra violet lighting, resulting in complete darkness.

Finn shuts off his lightsaber, silently backing away and moving between the containers in the dark with the hairs on the back of his neck prickling. Unable to make out any visual of Vex’s shadow form as the Defel is undoubtedly stalking him with profound stealth, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike him down. The only sounds of Atron’s Mistress engines firing in the distance of the hanger causing his urgency to reach Trentacal with Temiri to mount, but unable to do so.

Closing his eyes and reaching out with his feelings, the seconds stretch out as he continues to move slowly around corners before he suddenly senses something. Finn ignites and extends his lightsaber out behind him sharply without turning where to the eye there had only been blackness. The plasma blade connects with Vex through the neck only inches behind him, the blue light of the lightsaber plasma illuminating his chameleon like fur in the dark. Finn looks upon his snarling green snout and pained face up close before drawing his lightsaber back and letting Vex’s lifeless body fall to the floor. 

At that moment Jannah and Poe come running up into the hanger.

‘Nice of you to join us’ Finn puffs from his exertion at Poe.  
‘This way quickly ’ he says as he moves to join them and back towards the direction of Trentacal’s ship. 

However they arrive only to witness the Atron’s Mistress star ship finish taking off through the open hanger ceiling and blast off. As Finn can only watch he feels the failure of Trentacal’s capture wash over him and heart sink for the boy Temiri. Hating to think what will be in store for him at the hands of the slave master, not to mention whoever else might be involved in designs for him. His own childhood one he would do anything to prevent any other child from having to endure or anything similar. Actually seeing the child taken away with his own eyes had made the stakes feel even more real and urgent. But he knew Rey would counsel patience. They needed to figure out their next move as soon as possible and all the help they could get.

‘It was Trentacal, he had a child with him, I think force sensitive.’ Finn says seriously to the others. ‘We need to let Rey know right away’.

‘Master Skywalker is not going to like this’ says Jannah still looking out to the ship just as it jumps to light speed out of Gabredor’s atmosphere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am near finishing the next chapter but as I mentioned I struggle with the writing process. It would help to know if people are actually interested with kudos or comment :)
> 
> I watched a bit of Revenge of the Sith and Rogue One for inspiration in writing this. And there was a bit of a call back to Kylo landing in the Jakku village at the beginning of Force Awakens except now Finn is in his position.
> 
> The Karazak Slavers Cooperative was first mentioned in Galaxy Guide 11: Criminal Organizations (1994), written by Rick D. Stuart
> 
> Temiri was the name of the actor who played the force sensitive slave boy with the broom at the end of The Last Jedi.
> 
> Here are some visuals of the Karazak slavers sourced from Wookieepedia.
> 
>   
> Karazak Gabredor transfer center base  
>   
> Greezim Trentacal  
>   
> Vex (Defel)  
>   
> Rei'Kas  
> 


	2. The Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mysterious figure enters the dark force cave on Ahch-To seeking the mirror and more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for encouragement on my first chapter, it helped a lot with my confidence and motivation in writing this. 2600 words for you all in this chapter.

Rain pours down on the Temple Island of Ahch-To as thunder and lightning crash loudly in the volatile night sky. The only sentient life form not taking shelter on the entire island is a cloaked hooded figure approaching the cave entrance. It is a dark place hidden low over a cliff behind the rest of the island and the opening is set into the rock surface underfoot at the water’s edge. The nearby ocean storms against the island with a vengeance, the waves crashing high beyond the cave opening.

As the unknown figure reaches the edge of the opening they draw something from under their cloak and jump through without hesitation. Mid fall they fire a hook shot at the cave roof preventing them from hitting the ominous and stagnant waters below. The resulting change in direction swings them through the air over the surface with ease. As the momentum and length of the cable causes the figure to ascend they release the hook shot and use the force to flip in the air with gravity defying grace and distance. Landing on the cave floor beyond the waters edge elegantly in a crouched position before rising slowly back upwards.

The surrounding air is heavy with dark force energy, sounds of whispers and water slowly dripping. As the storm continues to rage flashes of lightning illuminate the cave from the outside above. The figure pauses briefly before proceeding to move forwards deeper into the cave with purpose. Seemingly to already know what they are looking for and where to find it. Soon enough they come to a halt before and are reflected in the peculiar cave mirror. 

The mirror becomes infinite, creating the strong illusion of a parallel series of reflections that appear to recede to infinity. The reflections appearing both before and behind the figure however separated by seconds, spread over time. 

Movement from a distance begins cascading through the reflections of the future before the figure raises their arm in front of them to touch the mirror with the tips of their fingers. The reflections of the past then follow, cascading behind.

‘Show him to me, show me Ben Solo. Please.’ the voice of the figure resonates in the emptiness.

But nothing happens as the figure continues to hold their position in front of the mirror in silence, the reflections also remaining unmoving. As the request continues to hang in the air the mirror surface begins to frost over, losing its reflective effect as if closing itself off.

The figure remains still seemingly unperturbed and not showing any signs of discouragement. Minutes go by as nothing but the air seems to change moving slightly more quickly and become heavier with darkness. 

A shadow slowly begins to appear, indistinguishable at first but continues to grow more solid and clear into the shape of a human form as it draws closer. Soon it becomes life size, as if it is physically just beneath the surface. The figure looks up at the shadow form as the frosted surface then begins receding slowly from their fingers, becoming transparent. Spreading gradually revealing the physical form of a human man before reaching the surface area to reveal the face and identity of the human shadow as Ben Solo. 

He appears perfectly preserved, as if frozen in the actual mirror and in time from his death on Exegol. Although he is free from cuts and injuries, the peace of redemption still on his face.

The figure gazes motionless upon the suspended form of Ben Solo for a moment before bringing their focus back to their still outstretched hand. Bowing their head in concentration a thousand tiny fractures of light begin to grow beneath the surface at their fingertips. They continue to grow and connect into larger winding vines towards Ben’s body. The light grows stronger as it completely surrounds Ben’s form and beams through the cave as it breeches back through the mirror’s surface.

The figure releases their fingertips from the mirror surface and begins stepping back slowly as their effort is no longer needed. Multiple breeched surface patches appear and grow on his face, hands, chest and thighs. Revealing the pale white texture of Ben’s skin, the dampness of his dark hair, his lips parting as they allow air to be drawn but his eyes remaining closed. 

As Ben’s form continues to be freed he begins to curl and fall limply from the mirror. However the figure then uses the force to brace the fall of his substantially larger frame, gently lowering him into their arms and to the cave floor before the mirror. 

Ben begins violently shaking and shivering, as he is suddenly shocked to consciousness and senses overwhelmed. His whole body jerks to pull away as he realises he is not alone.

‘Just stay calm and try to relax’ says the figure while continuing to hold him.

‘You’ve returned from beyond this plane'.

Ben manages to open his eyes slightly and blinks but then holds his hand just before his face trying to see it.

‘I can’t see…’ he rasps.

‘It has been some time since you have been gone, you may need rest to recover your strength and sight. They should return with time’.

‘Where am I?’ Ben then asks sounding increasingly disorientated. Breaking out in a cold sweat.

‘You are in the cave on the Temple Island of Ahch-To, the birthplace of the Jedi’.

Ben then raises his hand in the direction of the figure’s voice unable to recognise it. He tries to touch their face and ascertain something of their identity but only feels the cloth of their cloak and face covering.

‘W..Who are you? His voice suddenly guarded.

The figure lowers their hood and covering revealing the face of Rey Skywalker looking upon him.

‘Ben it’s me, it’s Rey’ she replies searching his face.

But as she looks into his dark brown eyes recognition at even her name never comes. They only continue strain to try and make out her appearance even at close range.

It becomes clear to Rey that there is something wrong. In addition to suffering from some kind of hibernation sickness it seems as though he might have some memory loss. She takes off her cloak to drape over Ben’s shaking body clothed only in light pants to reassure him. Enveloping the large man that had only existed in her memories since giving her his life force on Exegol. But who now, very much returned to flesh and bone, seemed to not even know of her.

‘Where is he?’ Ben then asks gravely and not without fear. Trying to determine something in his surroundings.

Rey frowns confused and concerned of who he could mean and reaches out for their bond in the force. Over the years she had tried to put the feeling of when they connected on Exegol as Ben had turned to the light out of her mind. When he had come just for her without agenda for power, that she was not alone just as he had said to her and the way for the first time it had felt right between them. No longer pushing or pulling against one another but a sharing. As Rey’s reach through the bond connects with him now however the relief of experiencing that wholeness once again after so long is brief before she is flooded with Ben’s terror. 

She had previously sensed Ben’s fear before, a deep seated one that had taken root in his mind surrounding his grand father Darth Vader’s legacy and his inner struggle with himself to be as strong with the force. It had been what primarily fuelled his drive for the dark side combined with his anger towards Luke Skywalker. This was different however, a disturbing and immediate level of panic that Rey had never witnessed or experienced in him. Apart from the odd fit of rage he had always been an otherwise stoic and fearless warrior, being such a powerful force user himself. 

It unnerved her, his vulnerable physical condition already strange to behold. She tried to absorb some of the burden from his mind without becoming overwhelmed before retreating, sending him some feelings of comfort down the bond. For Ben who had stiffened on the sensation of the connection his reaction is instant, closing his eyes again his body relaxes and slumps on the stone cave floor. For a moment Rey is alarmed, reminded of the moment on Exegol where Ben’s body collapsed from her embrace, having completely drained what remained of his life force to some how revive her before fading to the force. However she can still sense Ben’s revived life force, weak but stable and their bond whole and flowing again in the force. His violent shaking begins to subside and his breathing steadying.

Over head the mirror continues to beam light as the vacant space Ben body has left expands and becomes blinding, Rey has to shield her eyes as the mirror barrier is completely breeched and a portal is revealed to a dark void beyond. There is something familiar about this scene to her, she recognises it from dreams and visions she has been experiencing for some time. They had grown stronger and more persistent until she could no longer ignore their calling. These same visions were what had drawn her back to this place and Ben. It seemed as though the force had needed her to see or find something. That something might explain how it was that Ben was once again now living, breathing and here with her or what had possibly happened to him.

‘Ben you’re ok, stay here, you’ll be safe. I’ll be right back’. Rey says squeezing his shoulder lightly as she moves to stand.

Ben was alive again, after all this time. That was the important thing she thought to herself to override the sinking feeling at his not remembering her. She would do everything she could to help him as she had once promised she resolved and taking a moment to look down at him before turning.

Rey entranced moves forwards to enter through the breeched mirror portal. Quieting her thoughts so she can focus and feel the force flowing through her, ready to channel it if she needs. There appears to be a residual membrane of energy that electrifies around her as she touches it cautiously. It does not cause any harm however so Rey taking a deep breath passes through it to a midnight void dotted by stars and cut through by blinding white lines of light. 

She looks behind surprised to find a crimson stream flowing and trailing behind from her and leading back through the portal towards Ben still unconscious in the cave. The energy membrane continues to buzz with electricity around the streams continued obstruction through it. 

Rey observes the consistency of the crimson stream is peculiar, seemingly neither gas nor liquid as she reaches to test its feel and it flows through her fingertips. The flowing movement gives her the impression that it seems to have a life and power of its own, soft yet strong, fragile but unbreakable.

Letting it go she then gazes around realising the vast sweeping lines have created paths to what looks like other portals with distinctive borders of ancient looking symbols and patterns. Some are close by but many continue on in the nonlinear distance.

Her footsteps ripple on nothingness beneath her as she ventures along a path further into the void. She can hear voices and whispers emanating and distant movement visible from within the other circular portals. They sound and seem familiar, all of people she thinks she may have met once before or had she? She ponders each voice as she continues and approaches one of the other portals for closer inspection and looks through.

She sees a young woman that she realises is herself, dressed in her old Jakku scavenging rags, her hair in messy and drooping three buns but surrounded by trees of a forest. Rey thinks she has seen this location once before and recognises it as the forest on Takodana.

The only time she has been in this forest was years ago when she had first left Jakku. She and Finn had come along with Han Solo and Chewbacca to meet Maz Kanata not long before her castle was then attack by the First Order. Rey’s mind turning over this information comes to realisation this must be some kind of a reflection of this exact moment in time of the past.

As if on queue at her revelation the dark masked figure of Kylo Ren, now presently Ben Solo again in the cave, looms out of the cover of the forest and ignites his unstable red, cross guard style lightsaber.

Her terrified young self instantly fires Han’s old blaster and fires again as Kylo easily deflects the first and then second blaster slugs.

She sees herself scramble over the mound of earth and continue to back away firing off the blaster desperately.

Kylo’s patience with the pursuit ends as he cross body swings his lightsaber deflecting the blasts and reaches out with his other arm. Using it to quickly direct the force to freeze hold her arm holding the blaster down behind her and away from him.

‘The girl I’ve heard so much about’ he drawls through the voice modulator of his mask and pacing slowly past her frozen position.

He then turns extending his lightsaber right beside her face threateningly before asking ‘the droid. Where is it?’

Her hyperventilating and panic heightens so much that she becomes unable to speak even if she had wanted to. Kylo sensing this lowers his lightsaber and changes tactic.

Moving back in front of her he extends his arm and hand out to direct a force probe of her mind.

‘The map, you’ve seen it’ he discovers disbelievingly, his interest peaking.

Just at that moment his captain and troopers approach.

‘Sir resistance fighters, we need more troops’ the captain reports.

‘Pull the division out’ Kylo directs swiftly.

‘Forget the droid’ he says giving a small wave of his hand using the force beside her head to knock her younger self out from behind her.

‘We have what we need’ he declares as he braces her fall and scoops to carry her in his arms.

Rey is mesmerised from witnessing the scene objectively. She had not known that Kylo himself had caught her as she lost consciousness and carried her body. At the time she had assumed troopers had probably carried or even dragged her and tried not to think what else she might have been subjected to in the process before she awoke in Starkiller base. 

There was something strange about his treatment of her she thought on reliving this moment. Why he did not just quickly force the information of the map from her on that spot? The act would have probably killed her in the process but she was just a scavenger girl from Jakku to him at the time after all. Even at the height of his darkness and about to murder his own father there seemed to be a small sign of his remaining lightness. A capacity to be somewhat gentle and compassionate, at least towards her and even if low bar. 

As she continues to watch Kylo carry her through the forest towards his ship she suddenly thinks of Han. An urgency shoots through her as she realises she has to stop him, or stop Han from confronting him. It seems like she has a second chance through this portal.

Just as she motions towards the portal she is startled by a voice behind her.

‘That is something I would not advise’

Rey shocked that she had not sensed a presence spins and ignites both ends of her lightsaber staff on reflex.

‘Welcome Rey’

‘I am Darth Plagueis, I have been waiting for you’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ben lives! But how? Why? And will he and his memory ever be the same?
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the Return of the Jedi call backs to Luke entering Jabba's palace and Leia unfreezing Han from the carbonite.
> 
> The void described is from Rebels season 4 episode 'World Between Worlds' by Dave Filoni and Henry Gilroy. They had discussions with George Lucas about it. It will be explored more next chapter.
> 
> Think I am starting to get into the swing of writing more and encouragement had me finishing this chapter in half the time I thought it would take. If you are interested in the story consider leaving a Kudos or comment :)
> 
> Here are some visuals from Rebels (Lucasfilm).


	3. World Between Worlds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey confronts Darth Plagueis in the World between Worlds and discovers how Ben is returned. Also learning there is more to their Dyad bond and the force. An old enemy then resurfaces and tries to tempt Rey away from her path.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2800 words for you all in this chapter. Enjoy and thank you for reading :)

With her saber staff held poised and ready Rey faces what appears like a force essence that has introduced themselves as Darth Plagueis. However it is not the serene blue, ghostly quality of Master Luke but red, hissing and spitting much like Kylo’s cracked Kyber crystal lightsaber. Plagueis’s elongated, hairless face and expression foreboding. 

‘You…you’re the one who I’ve been sensing in my visions’ Rey says recovering her bearings and recognising something familiar.

Plagueis doesn’t acknowledge Rey’s accusation and merely maintains his position and demeanour looking at her. His red yellow eyes seem to see right through her.

‘You have many questions and although strong with the force you remain a life-form bound by the plane of the living force, therefore some of my answers you will understand and some of them you may not. We do not have much time’, he says perfunctorily.

Although irked by his tone Rey takes this as an indication that he is not a threat, not yet anyway. And knows she has to use any opportunity to gain more understanding but does not lower her sabre staff. 

‘What is this place?’ She asks remaining guarded but showing no fear.

‘This is a plane within the force serving as a collection and linking of moments between time and space together. Made possible through Vergence scatter of the force throughout the galaxy.

‘The World between worlds’ murmurs Rey realising the reference to her studies.

‘I’ve read about this in the Jedi sacred texts but why have you summoned me here?’

‘I restored the living vessel of your Dyad bond mate Ben Solo. When he died on Exegol his essence although redeemed in the light was unable to become one with the cosmic force while tethered to you’.

‘The shadow energy of Exegol is strongly linked with this plane, the Sith order discovering it could be used as a conduit between the living and the dead. Unstable Sith essences are also unable to become one with the cosmic force and manifest here. Although powerless to return without intervention from the living force and a living vessel'.

‘With this shadow energy combined with his persisting darkness I was able to summon Ben Solo’s essence here. Over a period I used the force to recreate midi-chlorians and influence the regeneration of his living form. I summoned you here to recover him back to the plane of the living force and re-establish your bond.’

Rey supresses her surprise at Plagueis informing her he is responsible for returning Ben. But while what Plagueis says explains how Ben had been restored, it is not clear what possible motive Plagueis would have to do such a thing. Her suspicion of a trap increased.

‘And why would you do that? You’re a Sith lord’, she grilled.

‘Now surely even you have come to realise the living force is a spectrum. There is light and dark to different degrees in all living forms and can even be fluid. You wield both the light and the dark although your powers ally to the light. Ben Solo for instance mastered the considerable darkness that had grown in him and found his light before he died after all.’

Rey’s mind flicks back to what she has just re-witnessed in the portal. Of when she first encountered Ben as Kylo and his cruel yet almost compassionate treatment of her at his darkest. She herself had struggled with and confronted her own darkness within her.

‘And we are not so dissimilar’, continues Darth Plagueis.

‘We both have the power to influence the midi-chlorians for instance. You have considerable power in force healing even fatal injuries. This aspect of the force is referred to as Anima that governs life'.

‘I had an academic interest you see in the lengths the force could be used to influence midi-chlorians in life forms. I understood that knowledge is power that could be used to bring order to the galaxy’. 

‘With all their abilities and power the Jedi lacked vision for how to wield it. And it became clear to me the nature of the dark side offered more scope for discovery and experimentation. I became known as Darth Plagueis the Wise as I came to realise that if one was to understand the enigma of the force I must study all its aspects, not just the conservative view of the Jedi. I had wished to become a complete and wise leader and decided to embrace a larger view of the force, it never having been done before'.

‘I chose an apprentice, a human Nabooian Sheev Palpatine who took the Sith moniker Darth Sidious. I trained him and together we worked for many years. Our work was shunned as morbid and unnatural'.

‘We unlocked the secrets to immortality through transferring consciousness to another body. Discovering Pneuma force that governs consciousness, the energy pattern of self-awareness can be preserved and imprinted a second time into the neural pathways of a different brain. This is the method Sidious has used with clones to return although his transfer method imperfect'.

Rey’s mind was reeling with the mention of her blood related Grandfather. The revelation she was before the master responsible for his training, rise to power and the horror he had brought to the galaxy with his ability to return. Not forgetting the murder of her parents. She couldn’t bring herself to say anything however as Plagueis continued his story.

‘During my work with midi-chlorians I found they also channelled the Unifying Force. An aspect of this called Aperion governs the cohesion of matter from atoms, gravity and the dimension of time. Which could be possibly manipulated on a grand scale, allowing an individual to step instantly from one place to another by folding space, regardless of the intervening distance. Becoming a master of all time and space of the galaxy if you will’.

“I deduced working in the 'Rule of Two' was required for the perilous machinations and strove to create a Dyad in the force between us, the unique bond you yourself possess with Ben Solo, strong as life itself…

As Plagueis speaks the nearby portal reveals a scene of Plagueis and Sidious from an earlier time by their age and absence of scarring and disfigurement of Sidious. They appear to be performing a ritual using the force upon an enormous engraved circle within an amphitheatre and strange, carved stone sculptures.

‘I theorised this could be achievable if performed at the origin of the force. However the formation of the Dyad failed with the force retaliating. Sidious was killed in the attempt’. 

As Plagueis speaks Rey observes darkness growing and the engraved circle illuminating as if filling with power. Suddenly there is an immense climax of blinding light with Sidious being blown away and killed.

‘Using a combination of Anima and Pneama force I managed to influence the midi-chlorians to create life and restore his consciousness to his vessel. However my one sided use of the force only restored his darkness creating an abnormal, powerful force using mutant without any light.’

‘He was able to shield this from me however and maintain his disposition as my apprentice. His public persona as Sheev Palpatine was appointed Naboo’s representative in the Galactic Senate. He became very powerful and secretly acquired his own pupil. I remained blind to his rise to power to the point of my death with his act of disposing of me in my sleep.’

‘I believe this was also when the force conceived the one who was known as Anakin Skywalker and was thought to be the chosen one. Who had illustrious careers in both the light and the dark’ Plagueis adds.

Rey absorbs everything Plagueis is saying although unsure if she understands all of it. She is also determined not to let herself be distracted or manipulated by Plagueis and remain focused.

‘You haven’t answered my question’ She points out.

‘Quite right, you’re mind is quick. Good’ Plagueis muses.

‘Sidious’s unstable Sith essence remains and many possible futures of his continuing to return, rise and fall in the plane of the living force has created an inability of the force to sustain enough balance. If his continued presence is left unchecked it might threaten the entire galaxy itself’.

‘Your Dyad is a phenomenon, one you had both not yet fully realised its power together. Two that are one in the force and a shared connection that spans across space and time. It tethers you now allowing you to pass back through multiple times and spaces of the living force. This power may be the only thing able to help neutralise the anomaly of Sidious not just from returning to the living plane of the force but here in the World between worlds, thus ending the cycle’.

Dread filled Rey’s chest with Plagueis’s mention of Sidious’s essence remaining and ability to return again. Flashes of her memory surface where she had thought she had vanquished him for good by deflecting his force lighting power of the Sith with the power of all the Jedi behind her. It couldn’t be true she thought.

‘We eliminated all traces of Palpatine’s insidious clones on Exegol. There is no way he can return’.

‘Denial is the most predictable response.’ Plagueis chastises disapprovingly.

‘Traces of him continue to exist for him to possess. His own flesh and blood lives on for example. While you may call yourself Skywalker you cannot deny your blood. Now there is another’.

‘Rest assured the power of the complete darkness in Sidious will allow him to return and continue his destruction.’

‘Why would you care? Why not just kill me?’ Rey asks as her heart quickens.

‘The galaxy is at a precarious point of repeating it’s recent chaotic history or progressing past it. With each war teachings are lost and knowledge destroyed. The galaxy has regressed in its understanding of the force’. 

‘This is unacceptable. While I despised the Jedi, perhaps they were justified in exercising caution and restraint to a degree. Together your view of the force may be more complete and restore balance for the future’.

‘If you achieve this, not only will you rectify the unforseen consequences of my past work and Sidious, I predict you will neutralise my essence, returning it to the cosmic force of the galaxy. I have no desire to return, my work from my time in the grand scheme of the force has proved a catastrophic failure and my desire to remain here in this void has diminished’.

Finally Rey begins to understand and senses truth in Plagueis’s confessions. There was the current conflict from the crime syndicates against the Galactic Alliance and her suspicions of their using force sensitive children to cause a dark uprising in the force. The possibility of Sidious returning with their support was a threat that could not be ignored. And it seemed as if there was at least some hope of freeing the galaxy of Sidious for good.

She shuts off her saber staff.

But there was still the issue of Ben’s seeming altered and not remembering her.

‘You claim you restored Ben, yet he’s not the same’.

‘Ah yes, while I was able to restore his vessel and consciousness over a period of time here I am unable to provide protection’. 

‘And I am afraid the presence of Sidious’s essence here and his ability to infiltrate and maim the mind is why we are out of time’.

A distant low maniacal laughter begins to sound in the void signalling that they are no longer alone. One that Rey has heard before and been unable to forget for years.

‘Hope, it is simultaneously the source of your greatest strength and your greatest weakness. Use it wisely’. Plagueis advises before gesturing behind her.

‘Go, return to your time and bond mate Ben Solo’.

Rey turns to still find the crimson stream of their bond trailing behind her, leading her way through the void and back to the portal of the cave on Ahch-To.

The malevolent laughter sounds again growing louder, nearer.

Not wasting anymore time Rey sets off at a run back along the ribbons of light forming a path through the void. Her strides rippling and noiseless again upon the darkness and starlight. 

Suddenly however the path swerves towards another portal and Darth Sidious unstable force essence appears in her way.

‘Well, well my Grandchild has returned to me beyond the veil, welcome’. He smiles sadistically at her.

Rey halts and re-ignites her saber staff. Looking upon Sidious himself affirms everything Plagueis has told her is true.

‘You were never my family and never will be. You were nothing compared to my parents’ Rey says to him keeping her voice steady and even.

‘Ah yes, your parents. Then let me offer what might have been and what yet may be’ says Sidious gesturing towards the portal.

A scene comes into focus of her parents she does not recognise from her memories. They look older somehow and happy, busying about setting a table as if about to enjoy a meal together. However there is a third empty place.

‘This is what you want isn’t? What you deserve?’ croons Sidious.

‘Rey?’ the call of Rey’s mother drifts through the portal.

Rey stares in disbelief, never having expected to see her parents again with her own eyes. They had tracked down the Jedi hunter Ochi’s ship that had taken them away from her as a child and recovered the Sith dagger that had been used to murder them on Sidious’s orders.

‘No this is a lie, they died, you had them killed’. Rey says but to herself as much as Sidious.

‘You know it is possible to change fate here, There are infinite paths and infinite possibilities. But you must choose’.

‘Rey are you coming?’ Rey’s father’s voice now echoes her mother’s.

‘So few have a choice to live the life they want. Why deny yourself?’ asks Sidious and Rey falters.

‘Mom, Dad?’ she whispers still staring into the portal of her parents and forgetting herself.

‘Join me and you can be with your family again. We can rule space and time of the galaxy together’ Sidious declares with strong conviction. His eyes becoming large and manic. 

‘What about everyone else?’ Wonders Rey out loud.

‘You will save your parents, they shall live. Go on you deserve this’ insists Sidious firmly.

But then Rey remembers everything that has happened has been the will of the force. She has people depending on her, one person who needs and means everything to her. Altering time could have endless ripple effects on everything she has come to love and the lives of others. Her parents had found their purpose and the moment they were needed the most in keeping her safe. And they certainly would not want their return to be at the expense of unleashing the monster that was responsible for their murders upon the galaxy.

Mastering herself Rey reaches out her hand to almost touch her parents through the portal. 

‘Mom, Dad. You will always be a part of me but I had to let you go. I have a good life, thank you for everything you sacrificed for me’.

‘We love you Rey.’ Her parents reply understanding completely.

Tearing her self away Rey returns to face Sidious again.

‘I have a family, I don’t need anything from you’ She tells him resolutely.

Sidious’s expression falls unhappily and scowls at her.

‘Unfortunate. But no matter, it was foolish of you to come here. My spirit will pass into you, we will be one.’

Sidious’s essence then surges at her and she feels him attempt to infiltrate her mind, body and soul.

She strikes against him with her saber staff it having no effect, the sound of his cruel laughter filling her ears. His red yellow eyes are only inches away from hers boring a hole straight into her. Pressure against her temples builds rapidly, the pain becoming excruciating as she can feel him calling the darkness inside her to merge. 

Rey closes her eyes and shields her mind against him but continues to struggle to free herself from his hold on her. She’s unable to focus as the pain fills her senses and darkness grows. Just as she screams reaching a threshold the pain suddenly channels itself to wield the force. Shielding herself physically from and driving Sidious back.

She holds it for as long as she can to regain her focus before breaking off and snapping direction to sprint, following the crimson stream again to the portal of the cave.

Sidious furious unleashes blue fiery energy roaring after her, flowing quicker than she can run and gaining on her.

Just as the heat of the flames are licking the back of her neck she closes the rest of the distance by launching herself through the portal. Landing roughly onto the cold hard stone floor of the cave. As the flames continue to rage beyond the energy membrane the cave mirror reforms, sealing itself off and becoming impassable once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of inspiration from Rebels 'World between Worlds' and final episodes in this chapter.
> 
> I admit I also drew from a non Star Wars related source of inspiration of the The Architect confusing speech scene in The Matrix Reloaded for Darth Plagueis.
> 
> I had more trouble writing this and even got confused myself, hopefully it was interesting and made sense though.
> 
> Love to hear if you are interested in the story with comment or Kudos :)
> 
> Here are some visuals from Wookiepedia and also Rebels (Lucasfilm)
> 
> Darth Plagueis  
>   
> Darth Sidious/Palpatine  
>   
> 


	4. Force Reconnection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben's mind suffers the after effects of Sidious's torment, struggling to determine what is real and whether to trust Rey. Unbidden memories both helping and hindering the situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I moved this chapter forward because I was impatient to get to Ben then ended up splitting it when I realised how much there actually was to unpack. 
> 
> A small warning of some depictions of violence in this chapter but what I would still consider to be within the realm of typically Star Wars.
> 
> 3200 words in this chapter. This story is now the most I have ever written for one thing before!

Ben’s every nerve feels like it is on fire as a dark hooded figure with a heavily scarred face relishes using the force to electrify his flesh. He feels like his head will burst open, the pain beyond imagining, pain past endurance. Every part of him is screaming for release as blue volts rip their way over every part of his body.

He is unable to focus and defend himself, unable to do anything but cry out through gritted teeth.

The figure breaks off the assault and the sound of his perverse laughter echoes in his ears.

It moves closer as the scarred face changes into a young women’s with eyes as black and cold as steel.

 _‘You are nothing' 'you mean nothing to me’  
‘You have no place in this story anymore’_ she hisses hatefully in his ear.

She unleashes more force lightning upon him. Even with the brief reprieve the pain is unbearable. He convulses sickeningly as he can’t hold back his scream. 

But then suddenly it all stops and the unknown force users tormenting him are gone. Only shrouds of darkness and whols of silver fog remain. Phantom silhouettes flicker at the periphery of his vision, their voices mere whispers in the mist. Listless he remains drifting for how long he doesn’t know.

Ben awakens. The sun already pouring through a window is too bright for his over sensitive eyes filling the dank, shabby environs of a hut with garish radiance.

He eases himself to sit up, pinches the bridge of his nose, and squeezes his eyes shut again. His head aches and his limbs feel as if they are made of Beskar.

Ben groans.

He then realises he can feel something else.

He peers inside the hut blearily to find a woman nearby and jolts, recognising her immediately as the women who had just been torturing him. Instinctually he raises his arm heavily to wield the force, intending to immobilise her against the opposite wall away from him. 

But it seems to pass straight through her, and she remains unaffected looking at him.

‘You were thrashing and fitting, I used the bond to siphon off some of the trauma you were experiencing to better help you sleep and recover’.

‘I’m not sure how much you remember or how extensive the damage Sidious has inflicted to your mind’

‘I wasn’t sure how you would react once awake, so I was doing so from a distance’ She informs him.

The force seems to be connecting them and she is merely a force projection. And from the sound of things this doesn’t seem to be the first time he deduces.

But he already knows this isn’t the first time they have encountered each other. He had just seen her, or were they dreams? They had felt real and seemed like eternity. She was in league with that monster and probably sent here to kill him. Or she was him, he would kill them both first.

‘No..you’re with him, I’ve seen you’ he accuses.

‘Sidious is dead, I used his own power against him and you helped me to do it some time ago before you died shortly after. He lingers on in the plane you have returned from however’ 

‘You are safe now here with me and Ahch-To is a safe place’ she assures him.

Ben has no recollection of doing any such thing. He can’t really pin point the last thing he even does remember though before being tortured out of his senses.  
And did she just say he was dead?

But at her mention of Ahch-To a hazy recollection returns to him of waking up in the cave and a woman holding and comforting him. He also notices her appearance differs to his nightmare visions. She seems older and more mature, the curves of her face and eyes softer, more warm. He relaxes slightly.

‘You were the one in the cave, what did you tell me your name was?’

‘Its Rey, my name is Rey. Stay here and rest, I’ll be right back with some food and clothes’

Instead of turning and walking out the door she simply vanishes, feeling a strange connection close in his mind.

But after she disappears her name echoes in his mind growing louder. His thoughts begin racing and growing in intensity until he his unable to contain them. Events come crashing back. There are so many sensations and feelings at the same time that Ben is immobilized.

He remembers seeing her for the first time in the forest on Takodana. She is a young woman, nothing but a scavenger dressed in rags. The fear in her eyes plain as he threatens her with his lightsaber.

He interrogates her on Starkiller base, the loneliness and longing for her parents is palpable as he forces his way into her mind. But she fights her way steadily back against him with the force seeing straight to the core of him.

_‘You, you’re afraid. That you will never be as strong as Darth Vader!’_

There was suddenly a deep throb of pain in his head and chest as the flow of memories halted. Feeling as if his heart would burst through his chest and he couldn’t breathe. But as soon as if had come it subsided allowing the flow of memories to continue crashing into him again.

They were fighting in the snow, the brilliant blue and blazing red of their lightsabers crashing spectacularly against one another. He had her backed up towards the edge of a cliff.

_‘You need a teacher! I can show you the ways of the force!"_

__

__

_‘The Force?’_

She closes her eyes seeming to refocus for a moment and then attacks.

She strikes at him with renewed vigour coming at him again and again. She lands a blow into his side causing him to yell in pain and stumble.  
She then brings the lightsaber down overhead, as he blocks it she kicks him down into the snow.

He lunges back upwards and catches her lightsaber arm as she swings to retaliate. They wrestle as she then fights to keep his lightsaber downwards with her free hand, it smouldering and steaming in the melting snow.

He is distracted trying to free his lightsaber as she frees her own lightsaber arm. Bringing it downwards she strikes his lightsaber out of his grip. Then swings upwards slashing him full across the shoulder and face. The force of the blow knocks him flat on his back, stars exploding in his eyes. 

The flow of the memories ceases.

Having them rammed back into him, forcing him to process them at the speed of the delivery threatened, for a moment, to drive him insane. He clasped the sides of his temples attempting to relieve the pressure.

Slowly coming back to himself he touches his hand to the side of his face and then his shoulder where he had felt the plasma blade burn through his own flesh. But could feel nothing.

He spotted a small dirty mirror on a stand by the bed pallet he is sitting on and moves over only to see his own smooth skinned reflection in it and looking back at him.

His confusion is interrupted by a knock on the door before Rey returning proceeds to enter the hut.

He can sense she is physically present this time as she kneels down to lay out some rations and caf, a change of clothes and boots. But between these actions, returned memories and his nightmares he doesn’t knowhow to react. 

‘I just remembered something…about you’ he says.

She looks at him with interest. 

‘I remember you in the snow. I wanted you to join me, I offered to teach you’.

‘I was supposed to get the map to Skywalker from you and bring you to Snoke’.

‘I remember Snoke yelling at me, punished me. Why would I take a beating like that for you?’

Still kneeling on the floor of the hut Rey looks up into his eyes.

‘Because you’re Ben Solo and there is good in you, you can be compassionate and do what is right’.

She pauses before adding.

‘You also told me I meant something to you.. in a way'.

‘Do I mean something to you?' He presses reminded of what she had hissed at him in his nightmares.

She looks at him carefully.

‘That’s why Sidious tortured you, to hurt me, to hurt us both’ she offers.

Ben hadn’t been expecting that answer but it only takes a few seconds before his paranoia undercuts it.

‘How do I know everything you say isn’t a lie?’ 

Rey doesn’t say anything at first, looking downward to give it some thought before she seems to settle on an answer.

‘It’s a good sign that memories have started to return. I don’t think it is a good idea to allow you to search my thoughts. There may be things you are not ready to remember and should allow them to return on their own. Give it time’ 

Ben scoffs at her, frustrated at not knowing or understanding.

‘All I know is I would have saved myself a lot of suffering if I had just killed you’ he throws at her.

From expressing this last sentiment Ben feels mild disappointment and sadness creeping through him. He then realizes that it seems to be coming from Rey. Her face does not give much indication of this however before she calmly gets up and leaves closing the door behind her without a word.

Ben is left alone in the hut with the food and clothes she had brought for him.

He feels emptiness at her absence that doesn’t make sense to him and begins to regret his words to her. The different versions of her both attacking and claiming to care and help him feel like they are tearing him in half. 

He noted that she had also referred to him as Ben Solo, which had been even more disorientating to hear. Very few people actually knew of his origins and she hadn’t been in that part of his life. That part of him was long dead.

It all makes him feel considerably weary. Pain he can use, channel it to create power with the force but these sensations just sapped him of his strength. He despises feeling vulnerable and disorientated like this. Begrudgingly he moves towards the rations Rey had prepared and laid out for him.

The rations are merely flash frozen meat and gruel but he devours every morsel. He feels as every mouthful eases the considerable hunger churning his insides and helping to restore him.

But by the time he finishes eating and manages to pull on a tunic over his head to shield against the cold ocean breeze he his bone tired. The minimal exertion of climbing back to the bed pallet renders him unable to keep from being submerged from a wave of exhaustion.

As sleep reclaims Ben’s mind he falls into a dreamless state. Drifting again without an awareness of time or space until darkness descends and the dark figure of Rey returns laughing at him dangerously.

_‘You don’t belong here anymore’  
‘You mean nothing to me’  
'You are nothing now’_

She raises her hands to wield the force but just as the blinding blue bolts crack through the air towards him Ben focusing just manages to force shield himself from her attack. 

As he struggles to hold it Rey’s face changes to reveal the scarred hideous face of Sidious straining to penetrate through his defenses. 

It doesn’t hold for long as Ben’s resistance begins to fail and is overpowered. The force lightning breaks through tearing up his arms and then up his neck. Twitching uncontrollably he cries out in pain just as the electrifying force reaches his face.

He wakes with a start breathing rapidly and the adrenaline still coursing in his veins from the attack. He finds he is still in the hut, his eyes better able to see in the low light with night beginning to fall outside. He looks to find Rey nearby asleep. She had clearly been using the technique she had been using earlier to help him sleep again before tiring herself.

She is sitting and leaning against the wall of the hut, a fire that she must have also built still warm and burning low between them.

He feels himself calm and curiously drawn to her as the firelight dances on her slumbering features.

The fire and hut suddenly swims in front of his eyes however as image after image begins racing through his mind again. A flickering film so vivid it blinds him to his surroundings

A younger Rey is sitting opposite him in the hut over a fire and he feels..relieved, understood for the first time and connected to her in the force as they commune. Her hair is damp from the waters of the cave, confiding in him of her encounter with the mirror. 

_‘I’d never felt so alone’_

__

__

‘You’re not alone’ 

_‘Neither are you’_

They are in Snoke’s throne room as embers are streaking and flickering down against deep space all around them on the Supremacy. He reaches out his hand to offer it to Rey.

_‘Rey I want you to join me, we can rule together and bring a new order to the galaxy’_

__

__

_‘Don’t do this Ben, please don’t go this way’_

__

__

_‘No,no. You’re still holding on. Let go!’  
‘Do you want to know the truth about your parents or have you always known? You’ve just hidden it away. Say it, say it’._

__

_‘They were nobody’_

__

__

_‘They were filthy junk traders who sold you off for drinking money. They’re dead in a pauper’s grave in the Jakku desert’.  
‘You have no place in this story, you come from nothing. You’re nothing’._

__

__

_‘But not to me’_

He offers his hand again.

_‘Join me, please’._

‘Ben!’

The memories cease as the fire and the hut come back into view. He realises he is on the floor of the hut with head in his hands and Rey’s hand on his shoulder trying to rouse him.

The sensation of the memories returning is maddening. His mind is reeling from the knowledge of killing his master. From the thrill of their fighting together, flowing as one to bring down all the Praetorian guards. This is Rey he remembers like a light switching on in his mind and looks up into her concerned face. But the clashing perceptions of her come to a head in his mind again.

‘I killed my master for you, offered you the galaxy! You said I meant something to you yet you rejected me, then left me for dead?’.

Rey draws away from him, the concern fading.

‘You killed Snoke for Kylo Ren’ she dismisses coolly.

’You chose the dark and wanted to let the Rebels die’

‘You also told me I was nothing’ she added.

‘Then why are you here with me now?’

‘I told you, you’re Ben Solo’. 

‘I promised I would help you when you turned to the light’.

She hesitates.

‘And..because you gave your life to save mine’

Ben glares at her astonished and speechless before his emotions reach breaking point. In a short space of time his mind has felt attacked, electrified and forced against itself. And now it had to wrap itself around this? This was too much.

‘I’ll just add that to the list to figure everything and you out!’ he lashes out.

Rey moves to leave again. Feeling the anger and frustration already draining from him at her withdrawal, Ben sighs.

‘Wait’

‘Im sorry’ he mutters.

‘Don’t leave, please’.

Rey halts before the door to look at him.

‘I just can’t tell what’s real’ he says not without difficulty.

‘Then ask’ Rey suggests as she returns to sit down again.

‘We touched hands through the force….is that real?’ he asks slowly.

‘Yes. It was here, I was in this hut I mean’ she answers as she reaches to place some speared fish to cook above the fire at the same time.

‘The caretakers must have rebuilt it’ she adds as an after thought.

‘You lived in this?’ he asked slightly admonishing.

She doesn’t reply seeming slightly affronted.

‘I mean – why here? he tries again

‘This is where Master Luke went into hiding, I used the map to find him and asked him to teach me the ways of the Jedi’.

Ben scoffs. 

So this is where his uncle Luke had run off to in a bid to live out the remainder of his days as a recluse. 

‘Or maybe we can just eat’ she suggests detecting his tone towards the subject of his uncle. She reaches to pull the cooked fish off the fire.

He nods feeling chastened and relieved all at once. He is not used to being cared for or making conversation. It has been a very long time since anyone had done so, or at least from what he remembers.

They eat in silence together looking into the fire hypnotized by its flames. There is so much he wants to ask her but he is too overwhelmed to think of anything reasonable to say. So he ruminates instead.

What could have possibly possessed him to forgo his vision for the future and position of power? But if he’s honest with himself it all feels strangely foreign to him now somehow. It hurts to think though, a pain lurking beneath the surface of his mind, just out of reach. There seems to be something he is missing or something he is forgetting.

His awareness is brought back from his thoughts by the awkwardness. There is a space between them and passage of time of years it would seem. She had still been a young woman in his memories, now they seemed almost the same age. She has grown even more beautiful he can’t help observing.

He inches his hand forwards wanting to reach for hers but thinks better of it and rakes frustrated fingers through his hair instead. The memory of her refusal to take his hand now fresh in his mind and uncertain if she will welcome his touch.

As he takes a moment to look at her instead he notices how tired she seems. Shadows have grown under her eyes and it strikes him the toll of helping his sleep must be taking on her. She is subjecting herself to his pain and suffering just to aid his own recovery. It makes him want to do something and offers her the last of the cooked fish, which Rey tries to refuse.

“No Ben, you need your strength back’

‘Rey, please’

She stills

A sardonic smile finds its way to the corners of his mouth, attempting to make some light of his past, undesirable proposition they had just clashed over.

Easing some of the tension and awkwardness Rey smiles.

She leans forward, placing her hand atop his on the table knowingly. They seem to understand each other better without words as he moves to return her touch, taking her small hand gently in his. Just as they had when they touched through the force all that time ago. He feels their unique bond in the force flowing between them, soothing the frayed edges of his soul and calm them both.

It is even more surreal than the first time they connected, no one and nothing else but them and the force.

This is what is real he decides.

‘We should both try and get some more rest’ she says with another small smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another non- Star Wars source of inspiration for this chapter of The Hunger Games; Mockingjay Part 2.
> 
> Are people still reading? Love to hear if you are interested with comment or Kudos :)
> 
> I was describing Dark Rey from TROS for when Sidious appears in Ben's mind as Rey.  
> Here's a visual just because.  
> 


	5. Ahch-To

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben explores Ahch-To and his light side with some unexpected discoveries and consequences. Rey reflects on the past before being called back to present situations and has to make a choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another long chapter, 3800 words for you all.  
> I made the mistake of posting the last chapter late at night and then realised it was quite rough around the edges still. I edited it a bit after posting. Hopefully I've done a better job with this one. Sometimes I can't read or write good :p

Ben sleeps relatively peacefully and awakes early the next morning in the hut. He rolls over to see Rey’s small form still asleep on her bedroll she had brought in on the floor. She had said the close proximity might help them both to sleep and had been right it seemed. He is unable to make out her face though with her turned away from him.

He can still feel the warmth at their holding hands by the fire together last night. They had re established their connection and reached an unspoken understanding. But there were still many unanswered questions and uncertainty surrounding her and this bond to him. The news that he had sacrificed himself and died had rocked him and Rey seemed to know more, not telling him everything.

Her suggestion that he give truth time to reveal itself on its own was a very Jedi approach. He knew and understood that kind of mentality, which made her behaviour more predictable to him to anticipate. He was satisfied that she did not have intension to try and harm him for instance, for now anyway. And things were already beginning to piece themselves back together becoming clearer.

He stretches as he sits up and feels some of his strength returned. His eyes are less sensitive in the darkness, the light of the twin suns still to break. Itching to venture outside and work the stiffness out of his legs he rises from the bed pallet. Pulling on the pair of boots he gets up and closes the door quietly behind him.

Outside he takes in the sight of the Jedi village of ancient stone huts before taking in the rest of the island. Everything is quiet and calm with only the sound of the sea breaking on the shore. There is green sea grass covering the island and ocean stretching out as far as his limited eyesight can see. This place is remote, as far away from a main centre of population as you can get. No wonder Rey so easily assured him of his safety here. As he casts his eyes up the imposing mountainside and reaching out he feels the presence of the force temple. 

The realization dawns on him that this is the island he had seen in Rey’s mind all that time ago and the ocean she had dreamed of. He had just not understood what it had meant at the time. Working his jaw he closes his eyes for a moment over the irony, it being the hiding place of Luke Skywalker and the answer he had been seeking all along.

Reopening his eyes he notices a walking staff leaning by the door of the hut and takes it deciding to go up to the temple. He picks his way across the salt-slicked rocks, tying not to slip on patches of moss, starting his climb of the scraggy stone steps up the mountain. The air gets colder and stronger the higher he climbs, struggling as his calves burn- putting more of his weight into the staff. He still has not fully recovered his strength.

He is breathing hard from the exertion as he eventually reaches the top of the tallest peak and finds there is a room, carved out of natural basalt rock. In the center of the room there is a pool inscribed with the symbols of the light and the dark, with a thin film of water over the surface. He lowers himself staring intently at the carven symbols lost in thought.

Ben can feel a strong sense of his uncle Luke here. He must have spent a lot of time in this room, staring into this odd pool. He bends to look at it, glimpsing his reflection in the water, in the middle of the two overlapping symbols.

After a moment he then walks out of the room and onto the overhanging ledge, noting with interest that the stone is split in parts, rent by some great force. Turning to look out over at the inspiring vista of the island he sees the light of the twin suns rising over the horizon of the ocean. It reminds him of Rey suggesting to him that he had in fact turned to the light before he supposedly died. That he is Ben Solo.

Ben settles himself on the boulder, crossing his legs underneath him and resting his elbows on his thighs, as he used to do when he would meditate at the Jedi temple, all those years ago. He closes his eyes, letting his uncle’s essence eclipse his senses again as he reaches out, searching. Yet he finds he is unable to detect his uncle’s presence in the force, an absence where it had once been. 

He died here. That’s clear to him as the filaments of the Force that stretch out echo back to him. But it was peaceful, a giving of his life full of purpose as he became one with the force. 

He breathes, drawing the salty air into his lungs, leaning into the tranquility of this place. He can see why he chose here. It is an ecological hot spot of death and decay that feeds new life, warmth of sunlight and cold of the ocean, violence of the weather elements periodically raging against the island yet simultaneously creating an equilibrium of harmony and peace. The Force is strong here and feels comforting as it binds the whole island together..

Ben feels nothing as he processes the death of his uncle Luke however. Any relationship they had once had died a long time ago but even the deep anger he had harbored against him since was no longer there. Revisiting his memories he found they had been coloured either by himself or Snoke, or both. Now he registers the shame and regret on Luke’s face, lowering his lightsaber he had raised to him as he had slept. 

Luke had looked into his mind and seen darkness, one that he now knows was also Snoke’s presence. But since then Ben has now also felt the wrath and pain at the hands of both Snoke and Sidious. Luke had told him very little of when his grandfather Darth Vader turned back to the light, saving him from Sidious when he was Emperor Palpatine. But he must have tortured Luke considerably for even the long-serving darksider lord Vader to break. It must have been triggering for Luke’s mind as he sensed darkness of that magnitude once again in him.

It had been enraging for Luke of all people, the only person to still see the good in Darth Vader, to have seen into his mind and raised his lightsaber against him. As though writing him completely off as a monster. The anger over the betrayal of his mentor and own family, the injustice and overwhelming feeling of being so misunderstood had driven his affinity for the dark side. He strove to become the very thing Luke had perceived him to be, partly out of spite and partly convinced it must really be his true nature and destiny.

The understanding washes over him as he realizes just how damaged and traumatized a person Luke Skywalker really was. Not the invincible fearless Jedi everyone, including himself, had painted him to be after the war. And how much expectation had been placed upon him.

Maybe he really had turned to the light Ben considered. But although he feels he now understands, he'll never be able to forgive his uncle as he tries to reflect on his last moments. He suddenly feels the sensation of memories returning to him again but in his meditative state he doesn’t fight it and allows them to meet his mind.

He is on the rust red stained salt plain battlefield on Crait. His uncle Luke is standing before him, somehow unscathed from the onslaught of firepower that he had directed at him. Their lightsabers are drawn against each other as the darkness emanating from Kylo is considerable.

 _‘I failed you Ben, I’m sorry’_ Luke nods solemnly.

He had acknowledged and apologized to him he thought. Yet the darkness in him had still wanted to strike at him and cause him pain.

_‘I’m sure you are! The resistance is dead, the war is over and when I kill you I will have killed the last Jedi!’_

_‘Amazing, every word of what you just said was wrong’.  
‘The Rebellion is reborn today, the war is just beginning and I will not be the last Jedi’_

_‘I’ll kill her and you and all of it’_

Luke shuts off his lightsaber shaking his head

_‘No’_

Suddenly Ben feels the piercing throb of pain in his head and chest again multiplied. Followed quickly by a sinking dread in the pit of his stomach.

_‘Strike me down in anger and I’ll always be with you’_

Stop! 

_‘…Just like your father’_

Luke’s face morphs into his father’s Han Solo.

No! No more!

He is standing on the bridge in Starkiller base looking into his father’s face with great conflict.

_‘I know what I have to do but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it’_

_‘Will you help me?’_

_‘Yes, anything’_ Han replies emphatically.

Kylo drops his helmet and then unclips his lightsaber offering it up to his father who reaches for it.

He doesn’t let go as the darkness descends around them. Suddenly he ignites and thrusts the lightsaber straight through his father’s chest, fatally wounding him. The pain, shock and sadness exploading through his face

Kylo exhales his adrenaline staring his father between the eyes

 _‘Thankyou’_ he sighs before withdrawing his lightsaber roughly.

With his last once of strength Han manages to caress the cheek of his son. Taking in every last detail before he knows he’ll never see him again. Then as the life drains from him he falls to his death from the bridge.

The memories cease as Ben looses his balance off the boulder. He doubles over in agony, every part of him screaming from the overwhelming grief. He stumbles back inside the room and kneels over the pool again, seeing his reflection though he reaches out and smacks the surface of the water

The pain in his chest keeps growing as if a large weight is crushing him. His heart is banging and bursting to escape. He can’t move, he can’t breathe as the room spins before his eyes. His guts cramp and his body heaves emptying the contents of his stomach onto the cool stone.

* * *

Rey awakens as the morning light shines through the window onto her face.

She finds that she is alone. But can feel that Ben is not far away and considers It a good thing that he is up and moving by himself. She wants to respect his privacy and sees it as an opportunity to slip away back to the falcon. Rey had only briefly returned to get supplies before leaving Chewie again since they had arrived on Ahch-To.

After the war Chewie had returned to Kashyyk to spend time with his family. He hadn’t wanted to keep Han’s Millennium Falcon leaving it in Rey’s hands but remained in touch. She had needed a co pilot for this journey while everyone was needed and preparing for the raid on Gabredor III. Chewie had been the obvious choice with added benefit of his not asking many questions. He had been to Ahch-To with her the first time when they were sent by Leia to find Luke Skywalker and help convince him to rejoin the rebellion. Chewie was also rather fond of the native bird Porgs of the island and was happy enough to accept when Rey contacted him.

As Rey boarded she stuck her head inside the Falcon. “Chewie? She called. Hearing his answer, she followed where it had come from. He was in the cockpit, fiddling with some wires.

When he saw her, he dropped what he was holding and came to put his paw on her shoulder. He roared quietly. She smiled and put her hand over his. But as Ben’s face swam into her mind she shied away from him, unsure of how he would react to the news of Ben’s being alive.

‘I am just here to make sure you haven’t adopted and brought all the porgs into the Falcon like last time’ she teases.

‘And I may also need to check the Holo for messages’ she says as Chewie guffaws and lets her go.

Sure enough the Holo console is illuminated. There is a message from Finn, as she presses for it to play his static blue form appears looking uncharacteristically serious.

‘Rey I hope this reaches you quickly, the raid of the illegal Karazak operation on Gabredor III is complete. 

Good news is the prisoners were recovered and there were no casualties on our sides. We also managed to arrest one of the generals from the command team.

Bad news is I am afraid Trentacal escaped with a child I believe likely to be force sensitive. He had a Defel bodyguard that obstructed me and I failed. I am sorry.

From this and the intel that was has been recovered the Alliance Defence council and Galactic Senate have called for an emergency meeting and session of congress. Your presence is requested for you to return to Chandrila immediately.

I tried to emphasise what you are doing is important but they didn’t go for it, they won’t wait im afraid. Hope you and Chewie are alright ’

As Finn’s holo form disappears at the conclusion of the message Rey’s heart sinks guiltily for not being with them in the raid. She had believed between Finn, the other knights and Poe they would be capable without her though and the visions she’d had could no longer be ignored. Why hadn’t she been able to foresee Trentacal managing to gain a Defel for a bodyguard? She should have known he would have something like that up his sleeve. Now she feels responsible for a child that had needed her help being captured and can only be half of what Finn must be feeling.

Rey regrets not being more open with Finn and Poe about her mission. She had always found it difficult to open up and had even wanted to keep what happened on Exegol private. But after much thought and introspection she found she couldn’t avoid or lie to them. And to do so would not have been fair to Ben’s memory. It had been the most difficult thing to explain to them that their nemesis had saved them all from herself joining the Sith and sacrificed his own life to revive her. It had caused them great inner conflict to accept and she hadn’t wanted to revisit the subject since. 

She had shared her dreams and visions relating to Ahch-To with them, that she believed were connected to an ancient Force power source she had been researching. It would be essential in a fight against an uprising in the dark side. But she had not divulged that she had also been sensing Ben Solo, she hadn’t known exactly although she had hoped. She had been unable to sense him had never appeared to her since his death although she had seen him fade to the force. The bond had been dormant without connection, like a phantom limb ever since.

Rey had expected Ben’s behaviour so far but it had still been hard. She had become familiar with storm trooper deconditioning and cognitive behavioural therapy back on Chandrila. She knew a mind that has experienced trauma is compromised and will lash out in a bid to protect itself. The best thing to do was to back off and give them space. Gradually she had felt him draw nearer and yearning to reach out to her. She had finally felt Ben again as his large hand enveloped hers and their bond flowed with the force between them, it was unlike anything else. 

She leaned back in Han’s old pilot chair closing her eyes as she allowed her mind to drift back to the last moment with him before he died. When she had awoke in his arms to his expression of mixed emotions. Full of relief and tenderness but restrained him self as he waited with uncertainty at her reaction and response. His eyes had shone bright as she uttered his name and reached for his face. She let her fingers caress the line in his cheek of a small smile forming and before she knew it she leaned forwards and kissed him. Reveling in the feel of his soft lips pressed against hers, his arm winding around her waist drawing her in close. He had finally come to her, they had finally found each other at last. He looked so soft as they broke away before a full and beautiful smile broke out across his face.

Why did she feel like this? Even after all these years of putting it out of her mind. Ben Solo had been her enemy Kylo Ren for over a year, which was about all the time she had known him. He had attacked her repeatedly, captured her on Takodana, forced himself into her mind and hunted her throughout the galaxy during that time. They were allys only temporarily in Snoke’s throne room before their irreconcilable differences over the war and the future of the galaxy became apparent. It wasn’t until Exegol when he had shed Kylo Ren and stood by her side against Sidious that he had truly become Ben again.

Things were different now, there wasn’t just her to worry about with Ben. And she had no idea how he was going to react to her news of Darth Plagueis being responsible for restoring and returning him. Or that their Dyad bond held a great power and responsibility for them to rid the galaxy of Darth Sidious for good and bring balance to the force.

At that moment though she felt a tenuous connection interrupting her deep thought through the bond.

**Rey…?**

Her name, uttered in the weakest of whispers by Ben in her mind. A fresh wave of fear gripped her as she sensed that he was weak and in trouble. She immediately scanned the island with the force and its life forms to gain his location before it honed in on the Jedi Temple.

Rey flies from the cockpit, down the ramp of the falcon and back through the village. As she turns a corner she ran straight into a Lanai caretaker knocking a basket of supplies out of their hands. They gestured and vocalized angrily after her as she apologized without stopping. She takes the path towards the temple almost twisting her ankles on the moss-covered rocks. The wind was really picking up, ripping through her hair as she climbed the stone steps up the mountain towards the temple. She could see a storm brewing in the distance heading towards the island.

As she reached the top of the peak she finds Ben crumpled on the ground inside the temple by the small pool. She registers his vomit as she moves over to him and panic rockets through her. He was so..pale, with beads of sweat clinging to his face. He was in as bad shape as when she had just freed him from the mirror in the cave.

‘Ben..?’ She started to reach for him then stopped as he spoke. 

‘W..What have I done…? His brown eyes were so, so wide, and she didn’t know what he was talking about at first. Then he added in a cracked voice ‘My father…’

Oh no

Rey gripped his shoulder ‘ Are you okay?’

He squeezes his eyes shut. A long moment passed. He shook his head.

Through their connection she could feel it, memories of that horrible moment he had murdered Han had caught up with him. Was it the light? She hadn’t known it would cause him so much pain.

She couldn’t leave him like this now but she couldn’t stay either. Even if she could stay a little while until he got better what if he relapsed and had another attack while she was gone? It was clear he needed more help and would have to come back with her to Chandrila she decides.

Helping Ben up off the ground and down the steps of the mountain from the Temple was extremely difficult. It was like he was almost catatonic, replaying the memory on loop in his mind trying to process it. His limbs still weak were barely moving as she helped support his weight. It would have been easier to have used the force to levitate him she thought.

As they finally reached the base of the stone steps though Rey turned to him to explain. 

‘Ben we can’t stay here, I am bringing you back with me on the Falcon. I can get you some help on Chandrila’.

He doesn’t reply completely despondent but continues moving with her directing him as she leads him through the village and towards the millennium Falcon. They pass the Lanai caretakers, one she had run into earlier with others who had joined to help collect the fallen supplies. They glare unhappily at Rey until they notice Ben, becoming excited and exchange gossiping whispers with one another. Rey ignores them as best she can moving past.

As they approach the Falcon she uses the force to lower the ramp again and board. She sees Chewie appear with concern in his demeanor from her abrupt departure earlier. 

Then his eyes catch sight of the tall figure with her.

She had a second to process the rage that filled Chewie’s eyes, and the Wookie was advancing and pushing her aside, going straight for Ben.

Chewbacca wrapped a hand around Ben’s throat and lifted him, pressing him into a wall. He roared so loudly it made Rey’s ears ring, and she clutched at his arm, trying to tug him off. Suddenly remembering how Wookiees were known to pull people’s arms off when they were upset. To his credit, Ben stayed where he was without a struggle or sign of the Force. He wasn’t choking. Yet.

‘Chewie, don’t! He knows what he did!

The Wookie only growled louder again in reply.

‘Look at him Chewie! Rey urged.

Chewie turned his attention back to Ben who was trembling, not from fear but from the things he kept playing over in his mind. He was barely there.

The Wookie released Ben with a questioning noise as he slumped against the wall, then slid down it until he hit the floor.

Rey sighed with relief moving hastily between them, shoving and directing Chewie away to start the pre flight procedures and set the coordinates for Chandrila. Once he is no longer a danger she moves to help Ben up off the floor and towards the crew quarters. She hears the storm that has arrived at the island break out overhead. This was definitely set to be one hell of a bumpy ride she thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I worked in mental health for a number of years and I really think it would be an interesting angle for Star Wars to explore more in their story telling. I definitely think it helps explain Luke's actions and change in his behaviour/character. And it would also help Ben to better understand and not be so angry anymore.
> 
> Love to hear if you are interested in the story with comment or Kudos. I'm not a writer but if you have feedback that can help I'm open to that too :)
> 
> Who else would love to visit Skellig Michael island Where Ahch-To Temple Island was shot one day?


	6. Hidden Vergence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile, small mysterious figures are escorted with a valuable item of cargo through the Sith Citadel on a mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took a break and then took me a while to workshop ideas and research for this chapter, writing this was slow and HARD and might not be the best. 2100 words in this chapter.

A shuttle streaks into a vast nebula in the Unknown regions. The interstellar cloud glowing of deep red, orange and gold occupies space between planets and stars. Completely submerged there are no orientating points to help the shuttle navigate its way, the nebula acting as a barrier obstructing from every viewpoint. The shuttle however deftly winds its way through the red stardust and debri fused together in areas of mass formations like roots. 

It emerges after travelling for an age through the extensive nebula maze and comes out of high speed before the dark, barren, rocky planet Exegol. With no nearby star for a sun there is only an eerie blue horizon glowing over its desert flats. The dry conditions and rubbing of dust particles creating enormous static discharges that appear as lightning erupting spontaneously over its surface.

The planet is no longer unknown to the Galaxy and navigation charts. After it was exposed as the hidden world of the Sith Eternal and a massive fleet of war ships. Comprised of hundreds of Xyston-class Star Destroyers which were intended for the Sith’s reconquest of the galaxy. Sidious called it his Final order, The First Order merely its underling. In response The Resistance mustered it’s forces and issued a call to the entire galaxy to join arms against the Sith on Exegol.

Now the shuttle navigates its way through the storming atmosphere to make planet fall. Deep fissures covering the planet are the dominating features of the landscape that can be seen, excavated by Sith loyalists attempting to reach a vergence they believed to lie beneath the surface. The only other landmarks are dark mounds growing in size on the horizon as the shuttle draws nearer its destination. The mounds gain definition as the ruins of the Sith Eternal fleet and stretch out over the barren landscape like a graveyard. The Galactic Alliance had commissioned the stripping of the ruins in a bid to prevent dangerous materials from falling into the wrong hands. Scavengers had also come from the far reaches of the galaxy to strip them of anything that was still of value. 

No life could be seen now however and not many ever ventured as far as the shuttle now dares. It continues its approach to a truncated and inverted pyramid of the Sith Citadel, made of black stone floating above the surface and extending underground.

The shuttle’s landing gear extends before touching down on the surface before the mammoth pyramid. The transport door then lowers as six small hooded figures emerge with a hoversled transporting a capsule and a dozen Klatooinian henchman. The Klatooinians skin range from olive green to dark brown with heavy brows and short canine mussels, carrying battle staffs and wearing bandanas. 

The lightning continues to periodically flare as they survey the ominous Sith Citadel. As the last of the henchmen assembles the Klatooinians then direct the impish figures with authority to proceed ahead of them. Entering between the distance of the floating pyramid and the surface. The blue hue of the outside becoming a horizon of light in the distance as they continue further into the darkness. Eventually they reach the mid point and come to a large engraved, octagonal platform in the surface. As they all step onto it with the hoversled it shudders with energy before lowering them all to the underground. 

A large hall filled with statues of Dark Lords long gone tower over them as they descend. The sound of the platform reaching the ground echoes darkly in the cavernous space before they all step off to proceed ahead. A few of the hooded figures raise their heads slightly, their gaze gliding up over the columns that stretch high above them but keep moving. 

They then come to a room that appears to have been used for medical purposes. Smashed tanks and viles, cables, tubes and tech all lies in ruins. These had housed all kinds of genetically engineered and incubated clone specimens. It was established this must have been Snoke’s origins before rising to power with the First Order. That he was Sidious’s creation and behind the war all along. What hadn’t been destroyed in the shock waves from the blast from within the Citadel was also seen to by The Galactic Alliance, eliminating all traces of the Sith that had returned to terrorise the galaxy.

There is only the faint sound of wind blowing through a high reaching vertical entrance in the furthermost stone wall of the room. The small figures enter single file while the Klatooinians orientate the hoversled onto its side and carry the capsule by hand. Nervousness grows among the henchmen as they all travel along the passageway to reach the heart of the citadel.

They come before a large Amphitheatre that has been destroyed by a great force, the throne of the Sith reduced to a mound of rubble. A light source emanates through the radial openings from behind, periodically conducting static energy through channels over the stone surface. Piles of large sculpted stone that looked to be from monumental statues like those in the hall surround them. The opening in the high ceiling in the otherwise enclosed space reveals the foreboding sky above. 

Beyond the platform and before the ruined stands there is a deep and rocky chasm. It is a sheer drop with only a blue hazey glow emanating from within its obscured depths. A dense darkness seems to be flowing up from it to hang in the air all around them, filling every cell of their bodies with dread and urge to turn back immediately.

With self control the Klatooinians however busy themselves reorientating the Hoversled and transferring the capsule back onto it. Reluctant to go any further they forcefully direct each of the small hooded figures to board stepping up onto the sides of the hover sled flanking the capsule. When they have all boarded the hoversled then gravitates towards the chasm. The repulsorlift units hum more loudly to maintain the antigravity and mobility. 

As the hoversled travels over the edge of the rocky cliff it begins to descend into the abyss. Gradually it navigates its way downwards and forwards different degrees, preventing from impacting into large protruding rocks. The flickering glow becomes stronger as they travel deeper, drawing closer towards the bottom.

The hover sled halts before touching the surface indicating it has reached the lowest point. As the haze clears base there appears to be an oil field, a pebble shore surrounding a pool of thick dark oozing oil with bubbles formed. In the center of the pool is a giant Sized oil globule reflecting the static lightning from above. It seemingly pulses with fluctuations in the high concentrations of dark force energy, a vergence in the force the Sith had searched for and found. The colour of the dark swirling oils impossible to determine, reflecting and refracting the light of the space all around.

The small hooded figures dismount from the hoversled and unload the capsule from it again as well removing its outer protective cover to reveal its contents. Inside it contains an incubated humanoid in stasis submerged in a thick gelatinous bacta liquid. A breathing apparatus obscures its face with many specialized sensors in the capsule to monitor the specimen’s bodily functions. 

They wade into the oil pool with the capsule of the incubated humanoid. As they draw nearer the immense globule looms high before them. Stopping before its surface they pause for a moment before then pushing the incubation capsule straight into it. The globule depresses at the point of pressure as the capsule enters, oozing oil smothering all around until it is completely swallowed. It then reforms to it’s original state without a trace of the intrusion.

Once the capsule is obscured from view the small figures spread out individually surrounding the circumference. In unison they then extend their small hands to its surface, bow their heads in concentration and high-pitched voices begin chanting in Sith. 

Na-hah ur su ka-haat. Su ka haru aat  
(Lead the Sith to us if there are any here)

Tsaiwinokka Hoyakut  
(Reanimate the Dead)

Chirikyât  
(He who causes them to throb and tremble in fear)

Woknoksh Qyâsik Wo  
(The Force shall free one)

Kotswinot itsu  
(Your chains break)

Vexok savaka  
(Wake, there is work to be done)

The swirling ooze of the oil increases rapidly until it turns opaque silver and the shadow of the capsule is seen ascending slowly within the globule. Encouraged the small figures continue to chant, repeating the Sith verses as it reverberates up the pit and around the amphitheatre above them. A red unstable form then appears from the depths below, indistinguishable through the viscous oil. It continues rising to meet the incubated humanoid in the capsule. At the point of union there is a deafening crack as a bolt of blue static lightning strikes through the opening high above in the ceiling straight down into the globule.

Instantly the globule becomes an internalised storm of raging blue fire energy. The small figures stop chanting as they back away hastily, transfixed by the swirling and hypnotic flames as they continue to burn within. Expending the extent of the energy discharged from the lightning they eventually die down inside the globule. The capsule is no longer visible from the outside with the oil clouding to become dark once again.

* * *

Maul’s yellow and red eyes snap open to the blue flames burning the oil away from all around him. His unstable essence Being restored to a living clone of his own body combined with the shock of lightning and capsule dropping downwards jolting him to consciousness.

The Dathomirian Zabrak forces through the capsule glass, pushing the debri away he emerges from the bacta fluid. Gagging roughly as he uses both hands to remove the breathing apparatus extending down the back of his throat and rip away the sensor tubes along his body.

Disoriented he surveys his surroundings to find he is in the familiar red mists and murky swamplands of his home world Dathomir. How was he here? The last he remembered he had travelled to the planet Tatooine. Just as his thoughts shifted his surroundings followed, the swamp suddenly swirling away to be replaced with the harsh desolate desert sands stretching out around him. The hot and arid air whipped around him as the sun scorched the terrain and he thought to himself. This was something else he realised, an illusion linked with the dark side of the force that had revived him.

As if confirming his suspicions concerning the truth of his environment the voice of his old Sith master resonates around him.

‘My first and former apprentice, you live once more yet you are weak. Let me in and I can give you strength’.

A deadly hatred filled Maul’s newly conducting veins upon the sounding of Sidious’s voice. The former master that had denounced him and slain his own brother. But his feel of the force seems diluted and this new body although whole is severely affected. He was already beginning to struggle without the breathing apparatus and sensors monitoring and stimulating it. He did not even have the ability to rise to standing out of the capsule. He was nothing now even if he was alive once again.

The desert sands around him suddenly swirled away to reveal the interior of an ancient temple Maul did not recognise. With ornate stone pillars and adorned walls with glyphs and a painting of large concentric circles and three figures.

‘Bring her to me, born of the light and the dark. And you shall have your revenge, or reclaim your rightful place by my side to rule the galaxy together. I can tell you how to fully restore your form and full power!’ 

His master was superior again he marvelled with angst, he had no choice. Gritting his mottled teeth with fury, Maul lowers his mind shields. ‘Yes my master’ he hisses.

* * *

The small figures look onwards at the scene that remains unchanged from the outside before Maul emerges. The dark oil from the globule slides down all over his red body, matching his black Dathomirian tattoos. His form appears twisted however and his flesh mal formed in areas. His nasal cavity exposed to his skull, side of his mouth missing and abdomen sunken with his ribcage protruding. Moving slightly affected as if by rigor mortis.

Maul wades unevenly through the oil and approaches one of the small hooded figures who presents him his double ended light Sabre staff.

His Malevolent eyes widen before he reaches to take it. His other hand roughly removes the hood of the small figure to reveal the identity of a small human child looking at him with a mixture of fear and devotion.

Maul takes in the sight of the child and the five other children that lower their hoods with mild surprise and intrigue before returning his attention to his weapon. He ignites it, the red humming plasma instantly cutting through the darkness, simultaneously reigniting his lust to regain power and revenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s aliiiive!! I know Maul has been done in Clone Was and Rebels but I figure if Palpatine/Sidious gets another run in the Skywalker Saga then so should Maul. He was such a badass in Phantom Menace and the opportunity for zombie Maul was too good.
> 
> There is some killer art by Arthur Ribirio and recommend checking more of it out at https://www.zbrushcentral.com/t/darth-maul-zombie/352355
> 
> Here's a visual reference of Klatooinians from star wars fandom
> 
> I used sculptures as inspiration for the idea of the hidden vergence on Exegol being a giant oil globule with spatial illusions. (this is in China and is kind of a rip off the Chicago Bean but looks more bubbly)
> 
> Love to hear if you are interested in the story with Comment or Kudos if you have the time :)


End file.
